Blog Heap of Links for the day 20 February 2015

If President Obama could hit the “reset button,” I think he’d rewind this week and try to get a mulligan – but then again, I could be totally wrong. If I am completely wrong, then our policy towards degrading, defeating, and destroying ISIS is non-existent.

In simple terms, America, we’re screwed.

[Video]

“If a private in Iraq had revealed this kind of planning inadvertently by leaving a plan in the channel hall of the gym, he might have faced a court-martial, but now it’s now become a matter of policy this administration is going to announce war plans in advance, it only increases risks.” [Video]

Some 20 people, including senior officials, have been killed in an attack on a hotel in the Somali capital, witnesses have told the BBC.

The Central Hotel, often frequented by politicians, was hit by a car bomb and a suicide attack. Gunmen then stormed the hotel mosque and opened fire during Friday prayers.

An MP and Mogadishu’s deputy mayor were among the dead, the government says.

Islamist militant group al-Shabab has said it was behind the attack.

Emphasis added.

CNBC Contributor Rick Santelli recalled his famous rant that helped spark the Tea Party movement on its six-year anniversary on Thursday’s “Squawk Alley.”

Six years ago, he railed against bailouts and said “we’re thinking of having a Chicago Tea Party in July. All you capitalists that want to show up to Lake Michigan, I’m going to start organizing,” a monologue that drew cheers from the crowd at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

[Video]

They're carrying out sporadic terror attacks on police, have threatened attacks on government buildings and reject government authority.

A new intelligence assessment, circulated by the Department of Homeland Security this month and reviewed by CNN, focuses on the domestic terror threat from right-wing sovereign citizen extremists and comes as the Obama administration holds a White House conference to focus efforts to fight violent extremism.

Some federal and local law enforcement groups view the domestic terror threat from sovereign citizen groups as equal to — and in some cases greater than — the threat from foreign Islamic terror groups…

Emphasis added.

The man, who was previously healthy and in his 50s, became ill after receiving a tick bite while doing work on his property outdoors. Although he was treated with antibiotics, his organs eventually failed and he lost the ability to breathe on his own.

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigated the man's blood and found he had been infected by a previously unidentified virus that belonged to the thogotoviruses group, which had never before caused human illness in the U.S.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear arguments in the case of a Tulsa Muslim who was denied a job at Abercrombie & Fitch because she wears a head covering. … She wore a black hijab to the job interview. The subject of religion did not come up.

"Archie is getting a reboot. The last issue (#666) will be released in June…" —Alan Gardner, Daily Cartoonist

The accompanying illustration has a redhead and a young woman of ethnicity where Betty and Veronica are supposed to be. You don't suppose… No, it's too vile to contemplate…

In any case, what kind of evil corporation ends a run on #666? This can't bode well.

"Under a proposed bill introduced in Oklahoma, couples in the state who want to get married would be required to prove they don’t have any sexually transmitted infections…"

How will Oklahoma relegate this with its completely open marriage common law? [Ref: Freedom to Marry — Does the State define marriage? a Mindful Radical Incline webwork from 2007 Apr 30.]

…The boy's mother… posted on [Facebook]… that none of her son's classmates had shown up for his birthday party… She wrote that her "heart is breaking" for Glenn who was turning 6 [and has autism]… The mother had indicated that her child loved law enforcement… Deputies from the sheriff's office saw her post and decided to take action… The officers raised money to buy the child gifts, dropped by his home with K-9 and motorcycle units and even coordinated a helicopter fly-over…

A team from the Library of Congress is at Tulsa's Gilcrease Museum examining historical documents including the Declaration of Independence.

It's the only remaining handwritten copy of the document.

They will be looking at a fingerprint they found in the ink, trying to determine who it belongs to….

A generally thorough article on the "Gabriel of Urantia" cult. Headline suggests they're preparing for "apocalypse," but nothing in the article suggests anything of the sort, except that they "seem like" other cults that have had apocalyptic episodes.

To join, members must renounce their given names and many of their possessions, steps they say are worth the serenity and security they find with the insular group.

But critics say the alliance is hardly serene. They describe a controlling, narcissistic leader who requires obedience and runs a cultlike community, and they draw parallels between the group and others that have garnered headlines following ritual-related deaths and mass suicides.

…a new CNN series on Christ called, Finding Jesus: Faith, Fact, Forgery, premieres on March 1 at 9 p.m. ET. With the objective of discovering new insights about the historical Jesus, the series utilizes the latest state-of-the-art scientific techniques and archaeological research. … Each episode of the six-part series investigates the value and authenticity of a historical object which is connected to Jesus: the Shroud of Turin, relics venerated as part of the True Cross, the gospel of Judas, relics believed to be of John the Baptist, the burial box of Jesus’ brother James and the gospel of Mary Magdalene. … In the episode about the Shroud of Turin, their dramatized reenactment of the Passion of Christ packs a powerful punch. As the narrator says, “the Shroud of Turin appears to be a silent witness to all the final sufferings of Jesus.” … “It is extraordinary to find an archaeological piece that is proof of his existence, his death, and his resurrection,” said Erwin MacManus, one of CNN’s panel of experts. …

[Video trailer]

"…hecklers from the ACORN-association CASA de Maryland interrupted the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security and Rep. Gowdy's reaction is priceless…." -Miss CJ [Video 4:20]

"…the ongoing sham of the Obama administration's under-the-radar policies get seen in the light of day in Bill Whittle's latest FIREWALL."

Pistol Pete's grabbed graphics, linked links, and merry commentary for today

"We got a little of this and a little of that today."